you're watching nbc 4 washington's news leader. now live in hd this is news 4 today. a taste of winter before halloween. a powerful storm moves into our area, brings us snow and sleet in october. thanks for starting your weekend with us. >> welcome to news 4 today on this saturday, october 29th. . as we speak, parts of our area are getting blanketed with snow. >> bizarre. >> while the roads may be too warm for roads to stick, the storm could knock out power to tens of thousands of people across the region. we'll go to the weather center

where meteorologist chuck bell is getting up to the minute updates. we're getting our first taste of snow. we certainly are. no smoke plaks reported around the immediate washington area. there are snowflakes in western part of frederick county. upper montgomery county, a changeover from rain to snow. the higher terrain not far north and west of town that's where the snow flakes are starting to mix in and take over in some place now. almost an inch of rain down in the southern parts of the shan doa valley. temperatures right now in the very cold 30s all across the area. cloudy skies, rain falling in washington. 39 degrees at national airport right now. as you get further up to the north and west, temperatures are within a couple degrees of freezing it does not have to be 32 at the surface to snow. remember, it's colder aloft, further up in the clouds. these snowflakes will be make

their way down. as a result winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories are pointed for just about everybody. fairfax, prince edward and howard counties in maryland, everyone else is a winter storm warning with the potential of up to several inches of snow. on live doppler, heavy rain at times around the metro washington area. you can see the brighter colors up into western montgomery county. there may be a little bit in the way of mixing in with some sleet pellets there as well. out towards the blue ridge that's all snow now. basically along interstate 81 from winchester down towards stanton and harrisonburg. it's all snow across far western maryland. there's a long way to go. this moisture goes down to the south. mostly snow along and west of i-81.

between 81 and 95 mostly rain to snow mix. around the capital beltway mostly rain. as far as amounts of potential snow, maybe six to nine inches out in the high spots west of haguerstown, most of this will be on the grass. a lot of this is not going to stick to the highways. nonetheless, could see up to an inch on the grass as close in as southern montgomery county. again, a lot of this will not stick to the ground. that is welcome news. temperatures are going to whole lot of nowhere. we might inch up in the low 40s for a brief time before it gets much, much koerld. cold rain and snow. one to six inches of snow possible with temperatures stuck in tupper 30s and low 40s. we'll talk about the fact that the sunshine will be back together and the rest of the forecast coming up. >> chuck, you know we're going to hold you to that one.

>> absolutely. the snowy forecast have people flocking to area stores to get ready. remembering the 31 inches of snow we got last year, this man in sterling, virginia, bought two pairs of snow pants just in case. meanwhile snowplow drivers in prince george's county where doing dry runs to practice their routes. the county said it had planned the practice run before the forecast. tetco says it's keeping an eye on the store. the utility company has been dogged in the past for prolonged power outages after storms, says it's preparing for outages once again. they say heavy weight snow can weigh down leaves on trees and cause branchs to fall on to lines. >> we're looking at a wet snow, we have leaves on the branchs. branchs are going to be leaning. hopefully a lot of the tree

trimming that we've done, hope any this snow will show the work that we're doing. >> they have scheduled additional crews to work throughout the storm. there will be more folks on call to help restore power if there are widespread outages. if you lose power jot this number down right now, 1-877-pepco-62. >> along the northeast people are gearing up for today's storm. home supply stores were struggling to keep shovels in store. municipal crews were also gearing up making sure their snowplow equipment is ready to go. make sure to stay here on nbc 4 for the latest on this october snowstorm. get updates anytime on our website, nbcwashington.com. a huge sigh of relief in virginia as rescue crews found

an 8-year-old boy after he was missing in the boys for a week. the boy wandered away from miss parents last weekend while hiking in north battlefield park. we have more on the boy's jury nee and the celebration of his return. >> no one on the team ever gave up. and i have to say that there was sometimes that you just had to reach down and find that faith that you were going to find him and whether it's appropriate or not for everyone, there is a god. he listens to prayer. and prayers were answered. >> reporter: it was an emotional, joyful week of searching for 8-year-old robert wood junior. with cold weather coming, it didn't look good for the little boy. he's autistic and cannot speak. he was found about 2:00 p.m. curled in the fetal position near a creek in the martin mare

yet ta quarry. about a mile from where he disappeared during a walk with his family sunday. one can only imagine the boy's fear during the long scary nights in the woods. yet doctors in richmond say he's doing very well despite being exposed to the elements. >> when he first arrived, he was looking at us. he was surprisingly cooperative with all of the evaluations this we were performing. as i said when he first saw his mother, he looked at her and smield. that was very heartwarming. >> reporter: about 6,000 people took part in the search. some gathered near the scene afterward to give thanks for the outcome. >> it was tough going. we had a lot behind us. we had a in front of us. but god was with us all of the way. >> reporter: the boy's father released a statement that said robert is a very strong and determined little boy. we never gave up hope that we how old return home safe.

the family has been here every hour and been involved in the search 200%. thank you so much everybody. robert is home. robert wood junior will remain here at vrks cu medical center for a few days and then it is home to his nice, warm bed. the engineer who had to be evacuated from the south pole after suffering a stroke is getting out of the hospital. she had been rofring at joungs hopkins hospital for the past week. doctors say she is regaining her vision and her speech is improving. she had to wait weeks for a cargo plane after asking for an emergency evacuation from the south pole following her stroke in august. the time right now is 6:08. still ahead, under repair. the emergency work that will keep visitors out of part of union station this weekend. and you may not have to pay those controversial new bank

fees after all. what you have to do to avoid being charged. that's still ahead.

your -- you're watching news 4 today. be advised union station's main hall is closed this weekend because of falling debris. a piece of the ceiling fell on a worker last night. good news is the worker wasn't hurt. experts realize some of the debris was from the earthquake two months ago. crews will begin work to repair the station next week. metro, amtrak bus, and taxi services are not affected. if you're taking metro this weekend four green line stations will be closed for track work until monday morning. free shuttle buses will take passengers between la font plaza

and southern after knew. there's also work on the red line that will slow you down. it will impact those headed to the horseshoe at the verizon center. trains between dupont circle and union station. you can expect to add 30 minutes to your travel time. the last red train will leave 11 minutes earlier than usual. do you have any old medications piling up in your medicine cabinet? today is the day to get rid of them? today is national prescription drug take back day. giving people a chance to dispose of those medications for free at a safe location. from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. people can drop off their expired, unused and unwanted pills at dozens of sites in the district in maryland and virginia. experts say diz posing of them properly helps prevent abuse and environmental contamination. the u.s. military is planning to airlift supplies to turkey to help victims of the powerful earthquake. leon panetta authorized the

humanitarian assistance after receiving a request from the turkish government. the move comes as rescue teams continue to find survivors buried in the rubble. sunday's quake levelled about 2,000 buildings in eastern turkey killing at least 575 people. . r. the youngest survivor of turkey's earthquake is resting at home. the baby and her mother were found in the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building earlier this week after the quake. it's a bittersweet return home as her father died as a result from the earthquake. meanwhile cargo planes from britain and germany arrived in the country today with food, medicine and other supplies. the occupy d.c. protesters will use a history listen today to try and drive their point home. demonstrators plan to march to the treasury and demand what they call the 1% hold responsible for paying their fair share. it comesen on the 82-year-old anniversary of the crash to have stock market that sparked the

great depression. proters are calling for what they call a robin hood tax on wall street bankers. the money would be used for brick services and creating more jobs. a major development to a story we brought you a few weeks ago. banks that were planning onnismenting debit card fees are dropping the fees or changing the rules. bank of america released a statement aing customers will be able to avoid fees if they keep a certain amount of money in their account or if they use direct deposit on their paycheck. chase and wells fargo tried $3 feese, but decided against making them permanent. >> all those people decided to yank their money. >> you don't mess with people's money. you don't mess with their weather either. no doubt about it. mother nature playing hard and fast pitch on the winter forecast this year. snowflakes are already flying and it isn't even november yet. >> they threw us a curve ball.

>> no kidding. we'll talk about whether or not we'll talk about whether or not we'll g

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you're watching news 4 today. well it's never a dull day as a police officer. officers in ohio pulled over a speeder going more than 125 miles per hour only to find the female driver obviously can tell from the video here is wearing almost nothing. >> hello. >> look at the dash cam video of the incident, the woman got out of the car and police discovered she was only wearing sheer clothing, very high heels. police charged her with eight separate counts including drunk driving. at least she had her shoes on. >> wow. easy does it. >> might have been a good idea to wear a helmet. >> how to make the head ache the next morning worth. >> clothing optional, helmet a definite. >> what do you do if you're a cop? >> cuff her and put her in the

backseat. read her her rights. >> act like they're not there. >> the month of october, what a strange month it has been. we started off the very first weekend of the month freezing cold and rain and nastily and ugly. we've had three beautiful weekends in a row, now just in time for the fifth bonus weekend in october, the bottom has fallen out of everything and winter, winter. are you kidding me? >> already. >> i think it was tom that said it, this is the first time that we've gotten october snow since 1979. >> '79. the ore yols were in the world series when it was snowing the last time around here. >> hard will be the orioles were good. >> send the letters that way. >> what's your email? >> what we have to watch for is a very cold rain in and around town and this could change over to a whole lot in the way of october snowfall, not looking for blizzard like conditions.

enough snowflakes mixing in with a very stiff breeze later today to reduce visibilities and it may come down the snow that is hard enough to stick to the roads briefly especially in the high spots. interstate 81 and i-20 be careful on the roadways. most of the ground is too warm to support the snow. if it comes down hard enough and fast enough we can get slush and make things very tricky for drivers. be careful. stay home if you can get away with it. welcome to your weekend. man, if we could have just moved the weekend ahead two days everything would have been just fine. but for now, we are stuck in the mess outside this morning. clouds and rain and cold everywhere. 39 degrees at national airport. look at that howling northeast wind at 17 miles per hour. that's all because of that area of low pressure that's going to be developing literally a nor'easter in october. 39 in baltimore. 450 in annapolis. the bay water temperatures are

in the upper 50s to 60s. there will be little of anything of snowfall alongside the bay. the atlantic ocean is still nearly 60 degrees. this is going to play a big part in our forecast. that warming sfluns, the northeast wind is going to bring the warm in from the ocean and keep most of everything rain drops from i-95 aes and south. you get further away from the ocean and temperatures are already in the low to mid 30s. again, as i mentioned in first weather you can get accumulating snow even if the surface temperature is above freezing. winter storm warnings everywhere out towards the blue ridge and northern and western maryland. here it is on radar. this is all rain around town. this is mixing in with snowflakes now northern montgomery county. it's all snowflakes west of i-70. be ready for a very sloppy go first thing this morning. this is all snow along parts of interstate 81 out towards the

valley. all snow into the panhandle of west virginia at this time as well. be ready for a very cold and wet day today. the broader view shows the end of the moisture way down here across far southwestern virginia. but that is going to be the end of it. we'll have to wait and see over the next couple of days -- next couple of hours to see how this all pans out. what to expect with our future weather? all wet today until about noontime. still raining in town, snowflakes mixing in north and west. as the cold air spills in and the rain ends it will end as snow in and around western washington until 6:00 and 7:00 this evening. what to expect and when, mostly snow out towards the blue ridge. rain first changing over to snow. western suburbs. mostly rain and plenty of wind around town. snowfall amounts six to nine inches possible. four to six the valley up into the panhandle of west virginia. a sliver of two to four inches

there. loudon county maybe an inch. mostly rain everywhere else. for today cold rain one to six inches of snow possible. almost nothing east of i-95. tomorrow sunshine returns but the cold air sticks around. tomorrow's high is in tupper 40s. that's 15 degrees colder than average. at least it will be sunny for those of us that are planning on running the marine corp. marathon in the morning, that's going to be the cold. the precipitation will be done, but the cold air will stick, big time. >> this is my question, a couple weeks ago you said i don't do gloves when i run marathons. will this change your mind? >> i will put a pair of socks to use as mittens. i will not wear gloves. >> thanks, chuck.

one of the most thrilling world series without the orioles in recent memory comes to an end. >> hakim has highlights from game seven in this morning's sports minute. good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with baseball. the cardinals are world series champs for the 11th time in franchise history. bottom of the first rangers lead 2-0. david frieze the hero of game six comes up big in game seven. doubles to left center. albert pujols and lance berkman score. the game is 2-2. in the third, craig at the plate, he goes out and gone to right for a solo home run. that's all the cards need. st. louis defeats texas 6-2 to win the world series. it's the cardinals' second world series title in six years. the rangers still searching for their first. college soccer number one ranked maryland on the road at clemson. clemson gets a break in the second half.

ball bounced around the box. the score on the rebound. clemson upsets number one maryland 2-1 is the final. high school football game of the week. seneca valley hosting damascus. second quarter tanner valley gets a bad snap. cunningham reaching up for the score. 29-19 improving to 8-1. that's your sports minute. just back to the world series, david frieze really delivered. you probably know this more than i do, how often does the hometown hero really steal the show? >> it is amazing that the hometown kid can play for the team like that. it's krasy. >> great interment. >> i'm impressed by the catch from trey cunningham. i like it. >> a lot of good stories. it's four minutes away from the half-hour right now. coming up, the crime shocked the whole region, but could this murder have been preventd. the

stunning testimony in the trial of her accused killer that raises that very question. and think your facebook account is safe? well, think again. wait until you hear how many facebook account hackers are -- how many hackers target every

you're watching nbc 4, washington's news leader. now live in hd, this is news 4 today. more than just a drill. while local snow removal crews did a dry run yesterday, today they may be dealing with the real thing even though it isn't even halloween yet. unbelievable. welcome to news 4 today. >> it's saturday, october 29th. even though it feels more like november or december 29th right now, it's not. it's not even halloween yet. but some parts of our area are

already seeing snow. >> our area isn't expecting to see it as bad as parts of new england. snow at this point on the calendar is surprising. some places are expected to get multiple inches, along with that -- >> we're going to talk with chuck bell and get an update on where we're starting to see the flakes. thanks. are we off to a cold and wet start this morning. and the big thing that we have working for us if you're a snow lover is that there's a lot of cold air really close by. if you hate the snow, there's a couple of things working in your favor as well. the atlantic ocean and the chesapeake bay are nowhere near cold. that's going to have a big impact on the amount of snow that we can get and there's going to be a big difference today between the east and west sides of interstate 95 because of the warm waters of the chesapeake and the atlantic. let's take a look then at current temperatures right now. 39 degrees in washington.

35 at hagerstown, maryland. 36 leaseburg. you get closer to the water 45 now. that's all because of the moderating influence of the warmer water. here's where the advisories are. winter weather advisory in the darker blue shaded counties. that's howard county, montgomery county. fairfax. everything else that is a winter storm warning that will go through the remainder of the day today. here you can see on radar there are plenty of snow showers now along to the west of the metropolitan area. rev rain to southern maryland. that's all rain on the capitol beltway. west of town, western parts of loudon county that is mixing with some snowflakes. there are snowflakes making in now in northern montgomery

county and frederick county maryland. that's all snow to the mountains of west virginia and western maryland. it is going to g a coal and snowy day west of town today. how much snow? that's it be only thing that people care about, about six to nine inches. up into the mountains. you folks martinsburg, winchester, four to maybe as much as six inches of snow. getting a little bit closer there. western montgomery county, western parts of loudon county maybe two to four inches of snow getting just a little bit closer. probably going to be about an inch. maybe you look a little bit more on the grass. luckily for all of us the roadbeds are fairly warm. other than i-81 and the spots out towards the blue ridge there where the snow may come down hard enough and fast enough to coat the roads for a little while, i think most of the major highways will be fine. we'll call it a broad range one to maybe as much as six inches

of snow. that's obviously from d.c. westbound. you folks southern prince george's county to southern maryland not much in the way of rain for you. everybody gets sunshine back tomorrow. the sunshine returns. tomorrow's high only in the 40s. but at least the sunshine will be back and be a very busy day weatherwise. just be careful. if you don't have to travel, just sit back and enjoy. >> sit at home and watch us. >> thank you, chuck. the trial of the woman accused of killing a co-worker at the betest da lululemon store will testify. one woman said she heard arguing and cries of please help me, while the other witness talked about hearing hysterical noises. neither witness offered an explanation for why they didn't try to help. a maryland man will be spending another 30 days in jail as the investigation into the

disappearance of a local woman in aruba continues. police believe the man had something to do with the disappears of the woman. he claims she was swept out to sea while snorkling. but investigators do not believe the story. at this time he has not been charged with a crime. police in frederick, maryland, believe they have the man responsible for killing a burger king employee last march. the suspect and victim knew each other. it was a cold-blooded crime that rocked the frederick community. assistant manager was found shot to death inside the burger king back in march. nearby business owners turned over their surveillance tapes as restaurant workers mourned. >> they had a picture on the counter and they were collecting moneys for the family. it was a terrible situation. >> reporter: seven months later they say they will charge a

former co-worker with her death. the 21-year-old faces first-degree murder and robbery charges. locals are thrilled a suspect has been identified. >> i think it's great that they found him. i just don't -- a lot of this stuff i don't like. and violence i just can't stand. >> reporter: investigators say it took hundreds of hours of leg work to charge the suspect. he was only questioned initially because he worked at burger king. but under routine questioning police discovered he was in this country illegally after being deported to el salvador in 2009. >> he said he came back to live. he came back to be with his family. >> reporter: the victim arrived at the restaurant around 5:30 the morning of march 18th. she was discovered dead a half-hour later by a co-worker. in a statement her family thanksed police adding, it gives us the sense of relief and anticipation that justice will be served. patty was a loving mother to her three children, girlfriend, sister and friend.

we will miss her deeply. the man was still in custody when police say they were able to link him to the crime. they did not provide any details. >> this case has required thousands of hours of work and collective team work to bring us where we are today. >> reporter: frederick police say they'll take custody of the man after he's sentenced by a federal judge on november 3 rds. hoping to close a murder mystery that rattled an entire community. >> and prosecutors say the suspect's trial date will be set within the next six months. a bombshell in the trial against michael jackson's doctor. as the defense team's star witness says the singer injected himself with propofol. dr. paul white known as the father of propofol says it appears that jackson gave himself an additional dosage of the powerful sedative after conrad murray administered a dosage. white demonstrated for the jury how he believes murray gave the

right amount of propofol to jackson. >> the package insert suggests and that's what dr. murray said he did. that's certainly a very safe way to do it. >> murray's defense team maintains jackson gave himself a dose of propofol that was 40 times larger than his normal dose. prosecutors will cross exam dr. white on monday then the case goes to the jury's hands. facebook is adding new security features to its website as it tries to thwart a growing number of attacks on users' pages. facebook said this week that hackers using stolen user name and password credentials try to break in to at least 600,000 accounts every day. the company says only a fraction of those attempts are successful. they're rolling out a new trusted friends program they say will help make it easier for people to restore access to their accounts. new today you can finally figure out how much college will cost. all colleges receiving federal

aid must now install a price calculator on their websites by today. parents and students can figure out the expenses nerd to better budget their money and figure out if they need financial aid. aid has lowered cost of colleges by $6,000 total. the white house is becoming more of a haunted house tonight as the first family gets in the halloween spirit. president obama is welcoming students from select area elementary schools for trick or treating tonight. as you can see the white house has already been decorated for the event. it's the third straight year the president has hosted the event at the white house which will be bathed in orange light for the occasion. and president obama was just on "the tonight show" joking about how the first lady likes to give out raisins and fruit slices. he's afraid the white house is going to get egged. we'll see if he changes it up this year. >> he'll probably slip in a few snickers.

it is 6:39 right now. still ahead this hour, the major airline that's grounded all of its flights. >> and you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you're flying out of town for the holidays. the security changes that could

you're watching news 4 today. people flying qantas are stranded this morning after the airline grounded its entire fleet. the australian airline said it had no choice because of an ongoing labor fight with its workers. qantas has been forced to reduce or cancel flights for weeks because of staff concerns that their jobs are being moved overseas. the airline said it won't resume service until it can reach agreement with all of its unions. if you're flying for the holidays, befrom paired for

changes at the airport. children 12 and under will be able to leave their shoes on now. in some cases children can be sent through image machines multiple times instead of getting the pat down. another thing to be aware of is increased baggage fees at most airlines. you should not expect a discount for prepaying a checked bag. >> the "today" show is next on nbc 4. let's find out what they're working on. >> amy robach joins us live from new york. >> good morning. this morning on "today" we're talking about the october surprise. we're tracking the nor'easter that could impact tens of thousands of people. the system expected to bring heavy wind, and rain this weekend. we'll have the latest on the extreme weather. plus defending conrad murray. high drama from the trial of the doctor accused of killing michael jackson. a key expert for the defense takes aim at the prosecution's theory. what did he tell the jury? then girl power.

there was a change to the succession rule ifs for royal family. one that would make will and kate's first born daughter queen. be very afraid. we go searching for spirits with the sci-fi channel's "ghost hunters." did we make contact with the other side? we'll have those stories and more coming up this morning right here on "today." now back to you. >> amy, admit it, were you scared at all? >> there was a point where i felt my knees weakening underneath me. jena wanted to bolt. we did have one moment that was very creepy. >> can't wait for it. thank you so much. >> thanks. chuck bell is back here in the studio. we've got some flakes falling all around us. not here in the city, but some people in our viewing area are seeing it. my colleague in upper montgomery county it's all snow there. our weather watcher in the panhandle of west virginia it's all snow there be and sticking as well.

>> checking twitter we have snow in ashburn and strasburg, too. >> excellent. love to hear all that. we'll talk more about our october snowstorm when we come

you're watching news 4 today. i can acknowledge that it may be an emotional show tonight, but it will also be a celebratory show tonight. >> a packed house was on hand in indianapolis for a tribute concert to remember those killed in a deadly stage collapse at the fairgrounds. sugarland held the emotionally charged free concert meant to celebrate healing, life and music. the country duo was about to take the stage at the indianapolis state fair back in august when the stage collapsed killing seven people. >> severe weather related as well. tough stuff. >> wind could be a factor today. we're talking about snow, but when we're talking about the wind and power lines that tends

to be the big problem when storms hit. >> it's not like it's going to snow a lot, but there may be just enough heavy wet snowflakes to stick to some of the leaves on trees. that could be a bit of an issue as well. we'll be watching that fairly closely. again, not expecting a lot of trouble right in the immediate capitol beltway metro area. you won't have to go far out to the north and west before there will be sufficient cold air to make snowflakes ap enough of them to whiten the ground in some places and add up to a couple of inches the further out you go. be ready for a very busy saturday weatherwise. outside right now cloudy skies and a cold, cold, rain coming down in washington. temperatures are barely into the upper 30s and low 40s area wide. do expect a very ugly start to your weekend out there. bundle up, everybody if you're going to be spending anytime outside today. 39 degrees the current temperature with a northeast wind now at 17 miles per hour.

and that strong nearly wind is going to be a big part of our forecast for today. so temperatures mid to upper 30s around town. much milder alongside the bay. and milder along the coastline as well. bay water and ocean water temperatures are still really warm. it's not even november yet. you have to go west of i-59d up to the panhandle of west virginia where you'll be far enough from the moderating influence to get the snow to stick. winter weather advisories along interstate i-95. winter storm warning west of there. upper parts of montgomery county towards the valley, winter storm warnings at this point in time. on the radar this is rain around town. these are snowflakes mixing in across northern montgomery county almost all snow west of frederick, maryland, out towards the blue ridge. all snow along interstate 81.

here's the second part of this forecast. there's the back end of the precip moving to far southwestern virginia. normally that would take six to eight hours to get all the way through here. that would put us at lunchtime or 2:00. they may be able to prolong the precipitation just a bit. here's the future cast model starting at 7:30 moving forward. at 7:30 this evening the back end is probably going to end as wet snowflakes around the washington area. here we are on the up close and personal view. this is all rain around town. look at the mixing in of the snowflakes out into the mountains. as a result snow almost all snow 90% snow west of i-81. as far as snowfall amounts six to maybe nine inches of snow northern and western maryland. four to six inches as close to the metro area as upper parts of loudon county. two to four across most of loudon and western fairfax.

into town a noticeably lower amount. cold and wet and rain and snow today. sunshine returns tomorrow, but it stays very chilly indeed. 43 our high today. that will occur about 11:00 a.m. this morning. 48 tomorrow. you can always follow the forecast on air. you can follow me on twitter. we'll be here all day doing cut-ins after 10:00 a.m. to keep everybody up to speed. >> some of us are playing in the charity tennis tournament this afternoon. tom sherwood, our general manager and i and a lot of people were worried when earlier this week you were saying snow. it's indoors. >> the aids walk is today, too. >> that's not indoors. >> no. >> thanks, chuck. okay. 53 minutes after the 6:00 hour right now. talk about playing the waiting game. >> the prize that's possessed these men to sit and sit and sit for

you're watching news 4 today. in just two days the u.n. population fund says the world will add its 7 billionth person to the planet. that's a lot of people. the strain the showing in fuel, food, and access to clean water.

the sound of ji from the seven billionth person will be a sound of alarm. nearly one bill go to bed hungry. and 2.6 billion have no adequate sanitation. but the nature conservancy's lead scientists said we can thrive in a crowded world. >> this planet can support seven billion people. >> reporter: the most pressing issue is water. >> people say water's the next oil. it isn't the next oil. it's irreplaceable. >> we are using water faster than it becomes available. this is why water tables are falling. >> reporter: 18 counties are overpumping including china, india and the united states. saudi arabia wanted to be self-sufficient, but will soon stop growing wheat because it has depleted an underground water source. when it comes to move, meat based diet increases pressure on

the land. and rising food prices add to food insecurity. >> probably the biggest hurdle the fact that tonight there will be 218,000 people at the table who were not there last night. it took until 1804 to reach one billion people and more than another century to hit the two billion mark. then population growth exploded. the most recent billion people added in just is last dozen years. however, the rate of growth is slowing as more women become better educated and find jobs. but it's more than just the sheer number of people on this planet. the pressure also comes from what we make and what we buy. and that's not slowing down. >> my jeans takes 2,000 gallons of water to make. if seven billion people all wanted one pair of jeans, we're talking 14 trillion gallons of water. you see how it adds up. >> reporter: the challenge now is how do we divide the earth's

bounty amongst seven billion people and counting. >> i love seeing newborn babies. i do. so cute. >> that's great. >> what would you do for a giant piece of construction equipment? >> well, for three people in finland -- >> what a segue, they're testing their stamina, their will and their sanity. all three have been sitting in separate excavators since june. more than 150 days. one of the contestants said he can be there for years because he has the internet. but he said sleeping is a bit of a challenge. get this, they get half an hour a day to go shower and go to the bathroom. the one who's last standing takes the machine home. that's why they can be out there for so long, they get a 30 minute break. >> take the internet away. >> and take away the parent that's paying for him to be there. does he have a job?